5 England cricketers who scored a century on their captaincy debut

Joe Root became the sixth England cricketer to score a century on Test captaincy debut

Day 1 of the first Test between England and South Africa belonged to Joe Root, who scaled new highs on his first assignment as the captain of Three Lions. The young skipper arrived at the crease when his side was stuttering on 17-2. However, when he walked back to the pavilion at stumps, amidst standing ovation from the spectators, the hosts were at 357-5.

Root scored a magnificent 190, on a day as important as his captaincy debut, at a venue as prestigious as Lord’s. The 26-year-old, who was made the successor of Alastair Cook five months ago, became the sixth England captain to score a ton on captaincy debut. Here we take a look at the other five. 

#1 Alastair Cook

Cook was England’s 79th captain 

Alastair Cook, England’s 79^th Test captain, was handed over the captaincy for England’s tour of Bangladesh in 2010 when Andrew Strauss was rested due to ‘work overload’. The then 25-year-old captain rose to fame in his very first assignment as the captain, as he smashed a 173 against a then ragtag Bangladesh side, and became the fifth England skipper to do so.

Bangladesh lost the Test by 181 runs, in which Graeme Swann shared equal limelight by taking 10 wickets. For Cook and his bat, there was no stopping as he smashed yet another century in the second Test which England won by 9 wickets to seal the two-Test series.